1969 Northern Ireland general election
The 1969 Northern Ireland general election was held on Monday 24 February 1969. It was the last election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland before its abolition by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
This was the first election since the 1929 general election to see changes to the constituencies. The Queen's University of Belfast seat was abolished and four new constituencies were created in the suburbs of Belfast to compensate for population growth there.
Overview
Unlike previous elections that produced a large unambiguous majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, this one gave more complex results.The Ulster Unionists were divided over a variety of reforms introduced by Prime Minister Terence O'Neill and this division spilled over into the election with official Ulster Unionist candidates standing either in support of or opposition to O'Neill and a number of Unofficial Unionists, who were independent pro O'Neill candidates standing against unsupportive Official Unionist candidates. The results left O'Neill without a clear majority for his reforms and he resigned not long afterwards.
Nationalist Realignment
The Nationalist Party that had for a long time represented the bulk of the Catholic minority faced strong challenges and two of its leading figures were defeated.The leader Eddie McAteer lost Foyle to the independent John Hume and Paddy Gormley lost Mid Londonderry to the independent Ivan Cooper. Both Hume and Cooper would go on to form the Social Democratic and Labour Party which would take over the Nationalist mantle.